Waste Management threatened with eviction from Denver recycling facility

While it waits for a new million sorting facility to be built in Aurora Waste Management maintains it is being wrongfully evicted from its current Denver recycling facility The national trash company has leased several buildings at E th Ave in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood since without much complication according to a lawsuit it filed last week Waste Management Recycle America faithfully paid all rent and performed its lease obligations it wrote But in Armstrong Capital Enhancement purchased the buildings and unlike the prior landlord right away demanded that WMRA perform almost million in repairs despite knowing the condition of the buildings before its purchase Armstrong a private equity firm headquartered in Greenwood Village paid million for the property early last year On July it gave Waste Management an ultimatum according to the company Either make more than million in repairs or be kicked out The threatened eviction has ramifications far beyond just the relationship of WMRA and ACD according to the former s lawsuit Since a huge amount of recycling flows through the WMRA th Street facility the threatened eviction would disrupt an estimated to percent of all recycling in the Denver metropolitan area That is a serious society impact Jarrett Armstrong the CEO of Armstrong Capital Expansion declined to talk about that Although we don t agree with Waste Management s assertions in the lawsuit our practice is not to comment on pending litigation Armstrong described BusinessDen When questioned if he will be evicting Waste Management from E th he noted Any feasible eviction of Waste Management similarly concerns pending litigation and ACD does not comment Waste Management s spokespeople and lawyers did not answer requests for an interview The dispute between tenant and landlord concerns a warehouse roof that dates to the s and has leaked since Waste Management moved in according to the company It has paid for several roof repairs and replacements over the years its lawsuit explains In Waste Management signed a lease through with the expectation it will move to its new Aurora location after that Then Armstrong bought the property and almost forthwith demanded that Waste Management make million in repairs the tenant alleges Related Articles Twitter ordered to pay million for urgent Boulder lease While WMRA was surprised by this sudden change from the position of any prior landlord and disputed the extent of repairs demanded WMRA has substantially complied with a large portion of Armstrong s demands by landscaping painting and repairing the warehouse Still its landlord is demanding more and unfairly threatening to evict the tenant declares Waste Management vigorously opposes the defendant s improper attempt to use eviction proceedings as leverage and thereby threaten continued waste recycling for large segments of Denver and the surrounding communities according to the July lawsuit Waste Management s lawyers are Dana Eismeier and Michael Ley at Burns Figa Will Get more business news by signing up for our Market Now newsletter